BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage concept for Villa d'Este 2015

BMW will show this gorgeous new 3.0 CSL Hommage at the 2015 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the genteel motor show on the shores of lake Como that BMW part-sponsors each year.
It's a jaw-dropping reinterpretation of the original 1970s sports coupe, one of the seminal BMW models tucked into Munich's back catalogue.
Is it too retro or a modernistic take on the CSL? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.

What do we know about the 3.0 CSL Hommage?

Not a great deal yet. Today's announcement is merely a warm-up teaser ahead of the full details at Villa d'Este on 23 May, with only a single restricted photograph issued. But it's plain to see this is a bespoke-styled two-door coupe, with wildly flared rear wheelarches blistered around huge wheels and bleeding into a pretty serious wraparound rear wing.
BMW has confirmed that the Hommage will be part-built from carbonfibre and says its 'rigorously pared-down interior renders its lightweight concept not only visible but tangible as well.' Quite.
This is the latest in a line of BMW 'Hommage' models created to celebrate the upmarket auto show in Italy. Back in 2008 it doffed its hat to its 1970s supercar with the M1 Hommage.
Sadly, that car never saw the light of day, although the Mini Superleggera shown at the 2014 Villa d'Este show is destined to enter production. Here's hoping that the new 3.0 CSL concept could see the light of day in some shape or other too.

Rolls-Royce Dawn

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars today confirmed the new name for 2016’s new Wraith soft-top: it’ll be called the Rolls Dawn.
The name was announced at the annual dealer convention in Los Angeles for 130 retailers around the world.
‘Our new Rolls-Royce Dawn promises a striking, seductive encounter like no other Rolls-Royce to date,’ said Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Rolls’ CEO. ‘Dawn is a beautiful new open-top motor car with a name that suggests the fresh opportunities that every new day holds – an awakening, an opening up of one’s senses and a burst of sunshine. It will be the most social of super-luxury motor cars for those beautiful people who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s social hotspots.’

Rolls-Royce Dawn: a quickie history

Forget the English christian name; this is instead designed to conjure that magical time in the morning, a fresh start.
And there was a Rolls Dawn, too - applied in 1949 to just 28 drophead bodies built up until 1954.
From spring 2016, it will be applied again to the convertible Wraith, as Goodwood rolls out extra bodystyles to its smallest Ghost range, reflecting the diversification strategy seen on the larger Phantom family.

Geneva 2014: Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe

The first model in the brand new Mercedes-Benz S-Class range is on display at the Geneva Motor Show 2014. The Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe is the major highlight of the stand at the Geneva Motor Show. The S-Class Coupe replaces the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class as the top of the range Coupe! We took a closer look at the car on the show floor!
The Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe is the first model to break cover. Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe comes equipped with the same 4.6-liter V8 biturbo engine as the sedan, delivering a total of 455 hp and a peak of 700 Nm of torque. It also features similar levels of equipment with the Mercedes-Benz Magic Body Control, Pre-Safe brake and Distronic Plus with Steer Assist and Stop & Go Pilot all featuring.
The Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe remains very true to the original Coupe Concept revealed last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2013. The front-end is significantly sleeker than the sedan. The LED headlights are also very similar to those of the sedan. The ice profile gets a tight design with a central line running the length of the car. At the rear, rectangular dual rear exhaust pipes give the car a powerful look.
Expect the Mercedes-Benz S 500 Coupe to be joined in the very near future by a Mercedes-Benz S 63 AMG Coupe and Mercedes-Benz S 65 AMG Coupe. We are not yet sure whether Mercedes-Benz will release models with lesser engines than the S 500 Coupe.

Honda Civic Type R Concept Leaks Before Geneva Debut

 

After releasing an awesome teaser image in the lead-up to the Geneva Motor Show 2014, the brand new Honda Civic Type R has been leaked before its debut. If you are a keen follower of Honda, you may be aware that late last year, prototypes were spotted testing on numerous occasions completely undisguised. However, if the new Honda Civic Type R Concept is anything to go by, Honda was keeping a few key styling traits to itself.

 Visually, the new Honda Civic Type R is about aggressive as a hot hatch can be. At the front, it features the same standard design as the standard Honda Civic, however, includes brand new LED headlights, a black panel below the front grille as well as a large splitter stretching around to the front tyres. The car also features new sports wheels, new wing mirror caps and side skirts.

The most prominent change at the back of the concept compared to previous prototypes with it featuring a futuristic taillights design stretching along the massive rear wing. Additionally, the car features widened wheel arches up front and at the rear as well as an aggressive rear diffuser and quad exhaust pipes

Official details about the engine have yet to be revealed, but it can be confirmed it is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged VTEC engine set to deliver around 280 hp and up to 300 hp. Impressively, the car will only be available as a six-speed manual.

Koenigsegg One:1

Stand well back. This is the Koengisegg One:1, and it may well need a team of lion-tamers to restrain it from leaping clean off its Geneva motor show stand and picking a fight with the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918. You’re looking at, according to Koenigsegg, the new fastest road car in the world.

Pull the other one. How fast is this Koenigsegg?

The Swedish supercar maker, which is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, calculates the One:1 will achieve 273mph flat out. The really terrifying bit is that the top speed is dictated by the limits of the Michelin tyres, not the drivetrain. Flipping, and indeed, heck.

What does the weird ‘One:1’ name mean?

It’s the car’s power to weight ratio: something of a holy grail for car engineers. The all-carbonfibre One:1 weighs 1341kg – around 50kg less than a ‘dry’ McLaren P1, and about the same as a fuelled LaFerrari.
Yet it develops a faintly ludicrous 1329bhp – or 1341PS, in new money. That’s right: this car has one horsepower per one kilogram. Hence the One:1 name, and the fact it’s not far off being of capable of time travel.

I bet it’s a part-electric hybrid to get that sort of power

Not so. Unlike McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche’s latest supercars, the Koenigsegg One:1 is no hybrid. All of its power is developed by a mid-mounted 5.0-litre V8, boosted by two variable geometry turbochargers. That’s an engine half the size of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s W16, with half the turbo count, producing an extra 143bhp.
The engine has been bored out slightly from its application in the 1124bhp Koenigsegg Agera R (which weighs 70kg more than the One:1), and boost has been wound up by 0.4bar, to 1.8bar. The engine is happy to burn regular super-unleaded, FIA-certified race fuel, or (in a cheeky nod to the new-found eco-consciousness of modern supercars) E85 bioethanol, says Koenigsegg.
Power is sent to the rear wheels only, via a seven-speed paddleshift gearbox and an electronic rear differential.

Give me some more performance figures!

To get your head around just how fast the Koenigsegg One:1 is, consider that instead of quoting a 0-62mph time for the car, Koenigsegg has only revealed one acceleration stat: the car’s 0-250mph time. It’s 20 seconds – three seconds faster than a Porsche 918 Spyder can crawl to 186mph. Impressed yet?
No? Then take note of the One:1’s unmissable aero package. Amusingly, Koenigsegg claims that top speed was not the main pursuit with the One:1 (then why did you give it over 1300bhp, guys?) Instead, like the McLaren P1, the One:1 is designed to be the ultimate track weapon.

You’d have to be mad to drive this thing on track!

We agree, but Koenigsegg’s engineers don’t. The standard One:1’s Agera R body has sprouted new canard winglets up front, and a huge adaptive rear wing, which flattens itself under hard acceleration for less drag, and pops up when you brake or corner for more downforce.
Koengisegg reckons the entire car conjures up 610kg of downforce at 273mph. McLaren will no doubt smugly remind you that its own P1 needs only a pedestrian 150mph to be showing on its speedo before it creates 650kg of extra mass. Nevertheless, the One:1 still generates a purported 2G in a fast bend.
Enhancing the One:1’s racetrack credentials are carbon-ceramic disc brakes measuring 397mm up front (and 40mm in width!), gripped by six-piston calipers. The rears are 380mm across, and have four-pot grabbers.
They live behind lightweight carbonfibre wheels, and can haul the One:1 from 248mph to rest in 10 seconds. Or pull you up from 62mph in a scant 28 metres – 45m less than the UK Highway Code requires.

Wow. Can I buy one?

No, you’re too late, even if you’ve got the requisite $2m lying around. Only six One:1s will be produced by Koenigsegg, and all are spoken for, with four reportedly snapped up by Chinese enthusiasts.
With LaFerrari and McLaren P1 sold out as well, it’s over to the 270mph Hennessey Venom GT or Porsche 918 Spyder super-hybrid if you’re a lottery winner in need of modern hypercar kicks.

2015 Audi S1

Two years ago, we spent some time behind the wheel of a limited-edition Audi A1 Quattro, and we were left in awe of the 256-hp supermini’s perfectly balanced chassis and incredible performance. In the immediate aftermath, Audi functionaries insisted that a not-so-limited-production successor was on the way to complement the brand’s tiny, Volkswagen Polo–based A1. And then all went quiet. Until now, when the 2015 S1 was introduced ahead of the car’s in-the-metal debut next month at the Geneva auto show.

The S1’s specifications are quite similar to its limited-run predecessor’s. The new car is also powered by a 2.0-liter turbo four, and uses a six-speed manual, while top speed is 155 mph—3 mph faster than the A1 Quattro’s.

 

In order to make this S1, engineers had to make a number of modifications from the front-drive A1, which is about three inches longer than a Ford Fiesta ST but nearly identical in every other dimension. For starters, an all-wheel-drive system needed to be fitted, making the S1 the first mass-produced all-wheel-drive A1, as was a new multilink rear suspension and making accommodations for the larger engine—the A1’s powertrain lineup maxes out at a 1.4-liter.

Rated at 231 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque, the S1's EA888 2.0-liter turbo four is less powerful than the A1 Quattro’s EA113 powerplant, but it produces more torque. Audi says that the S1 can sprint from standstill to 62 mph in 5.8 seconds, or 5.9 seconds in the five-door S1 Sportback, and achieve 34 mpg on the utopian European cycle. Those performance estimates handily outgun what we achieved in our test of a Fiesta ST, which was good for a 7.0-second run to 60.
The S1 looks aggressive, with its unique fascia treatments and quad exhaust outlets. The look can be enhanced with an exterior design package that adds “Quattro” graphics, a large rear wing, and blacked-out trim on the hatch. 

The interior is fitted with special gauges and sport seats, although buyers can upgrade the latter to "S" seats with integrated headrests. Interior materials are dark and businesslike, lending the cabin the air of seriousness that’s commonplace in the car’s larger siblings.

Given the S1's performance and level of refinement, its German-market price of €24,259 (roughly $33,000 at today’s exchange rates) is almost a steal. We doubt the 2015 S1 will ever reach America air, but when the standard A1 was launched we were told the car could be certified to meet U.S. safety standards with relative ease. We suggest ringing Audi and registering a request

McLaren confirms 650S supercar

McLaren has confirmed it will reveal a supercar called the 650S at the upcoming 2014 Geneva motor show.
Expected to be based on the McLaren 12C that has been a slow seller compared with the Ferrari 458 it competes with, the 650S is expected to get major styling revisions and a more powerful version of the 3.8-litre twin turbocharged V8 engine.
The 650S will be the third supercar in the current range from the British sports car maker that is better known for its Formula One success than its road cars.
Power is expected to increase to about 480kW – or 650 horsepower, hence the 650S moniker – outgunning the Ferrari 458 Speciale it’s expected to compete with.

The 650S is an additional model on top of the McLaren P1 hypercar (it won’t be sold here because it will only be produced with the steering wheel on the left-hand side) and long rumoured more affordable McLaren, which is expected to take on Porsche’s iconic and segment-dominating 911.
McLaren released only a picture of the badge of the upcoming 650S, saying it would release more details of the car on March 4, 2014.
In a short statement accompanying the picture McLaren said the 650S would sit between the 12C and the P1, suggesting a price tag between $500,000 and $1 million.
“Designed and developed to offer the enthusiast driver the ultimate in luxury, engagement and excitement, as well as dramatic yet beautiful styling, the McLaren 650S is the result of 50 years of competing, and winning, at the highest levels of motorsport,” the statement read. “It takes learnings from both the 12C as well as the sell-out McLaren P1 and will be positioned between the two on McLaren Automotive’s supercar grid.”
According to official sales figures just 51 McLaren 12C Coupes and Spiders have been sold in Australia since going on sale late in 2011 up until the end of January 2014.